A Symposium on ‘The Ukraine Crisis: Challenges to India's Foreign Policy’ Report
The Takshashila Institution along with the Pune International Centre and XKDR Forum organised a day-long symposium with the theme ‘The Ukraine Crisis: Challenges to India's Foreign Policy’ on Monday, August 1, 2022. The symposium brought together some of India’s leading thinkers across foreign policy, defence, economics, technology and strategic affairs to deliberate the challenges of the future.
Nitin Pai, (Co-founder & Director, The Takshashila Institution) chaired the session on Economics: Growth, Energy and Sanctions where Dr. Rakesh Mohan (President, Centre for Social and Economic Progress), Dr. Ila Patnaik (Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group) and Prof. Ajay Shah (Senior Research Fellow and Co-founder, XKDR Forum) participated.
Discussing India’s response to the war in Ukraine, Pai said that “it is too early to tell how well we have done, and how good our policy towards this conflict is. India's response to the Ukraine crisis is not over. Today's conversation feeds into India's response.”
Pai and Prof. Shah also participated in the session on Lessons for India's Policy Choices, chaired by Amb. Gautam Bambawale (Former Indian Ambassador to China, Bhutan & High Commissioner to Pakistan).
Pranay Kotasthane, (Deputy Director, The Takshashila Institution) participated in a session on Technology and the Ukraine War: Opportunities and Challenges along with Mr. Madhukar Kotwal (Former Director, L&T) and Mr. Saikat Datta (Founding Partner, DeepStrat). The session was chaired by Mr. Nandkumar Saravade (Former CEO, Reserve Bank Information Technology Private Limited - ReBIT).
Kotasthane emphasised that it was important for India to not “stretch the (concept of) Atmanirbharta too much and disconnect from a lot of the global supply chains.”
Additionally, the session on Politics and Diplomacy was chaired by Latha Reddy (Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace & ex-Deputy National Security Adviser) and Amb. Sudhir Devare (India's first Ambassador to Ukraine & ex-DG, Indian Council of World Affairs), Prof. C. Raja Mohan (Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi) and Amb. DB Venkatesh Varma (Former Indian Ambassador to the Russian Federation) participated in the discussion.
The session on Rethinking Indian Defence Strategy in the Light of the Ukraine War was chaired by Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Former Vice Chief of Air Staff). Dr. Tara Kartha (Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Research. New Delhi), Rear Admiral SY Shrikhande, AVSM (Former Assistant Chief of Naval Staff) Lt. Gen. Shokin Chauhan (Visiting Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies) participated in the panel.
The live stream of the full event is available on YouTube.
The Ukraine Crisis: Challenges to India’s Foreign Policy